How much do you feed fish?

M

maaltan

AC Members
Sep 11, 2004
259
1
16
I have heard several semi confusing methods for feeding fish.

My 20G L tank is currently stocked as follows

large apongeton, anacharis just getting started and lots of java moss currently under 37w of florescent (one cool and one grow bulb, 2 fixtures) and blue led moonlighting (usuaaly dimish. can see movement when close to tank)

6 adult swordtails, 5 baby
5 java (black kuhli) loaches
2 neons

I was feeding my fish about 20 "crisps" or about a teaspoon- they like flakes except have substance and stay cohesive for quite a while - about twice a day. sometimes i threw in a few shrimp pellets for loaches.

Everyonce in a while I would substitute a feeding with 1 cube of tubifex and a an half algae tablet for the loaches.

Right now i have reduced feedings to once a day and about half the quantity (about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon flakes or one cube)

I have not fed any sinking food to the loaches for about 2 weeks since ive noticed snails and i have been encouraging them to "do thier job". They are still alive and as (in)active as ever yet still no dead snails.

I have always had a huge nitrate problem which befuddles me. my tap water is eqivilant to distilled and i sitll have to change water twice a week. my DIY denitrator is a flop been going for about 4 months with no changes.

so am I underfeeding, overfeeding, got other issues

thanks
 
My guess is overfeeding. A teaspoon is a ton of food for your load of fish. If they were mine, they may get a tsp worth every three days. A hungry fish is a happy fish. This would also answer your nitrate problem. There's a lot (no, a TON) of nitrogen in flake food due to the amount of protied.

I'd suggest a couple of things that have given me success:

1) Reduce total amount of feeding. If there's a single bit of food left after two minutes, it was too much. Fish are cold blooded and don't need nearly the amount of food, pound for pound, that a dog, cat, or human would. Twice a day is fine--- maybe 1/8-1/4 tsp at a time.


2) Feed more frozen and/or live food. They tend to be lower in protien, which is NOT a major factor in food quality given the good selection we have nowadays. Lower protien = somewhat lower nitrogenous waste. That, and fish love it. I avoid brine shrimp, read too much about them not being very nutritive. I use frozen daphnia and frozen mysis, as well as frozen food-grade shrimp.
 
I have a 20 gallon tank and I feed my fish once a day, alternating between vegetables,flakes and freeze dried bloodworm. Twice a day was too much for my fish and I was having to gravel val the excesss out from even the small amounts that I was feeding them. They seem fine with this, very healthy and they get all they need from the different types of food.

D
 
I have a 30g tank and feed my fish once a day with one day off per week. I feed my plec 3 times a week on raw potato (he always grabs a few flakes / crisps anyways)
I use crisps myself as they have higher nutritional value than flakes and i have heard that this can have a negative impact on yr water perams.

I say feed less - about as much as they csan eat in a couple of minutes.

I feed frozen blood worm once a week and alternate that with frozen mysis every other week (My angels go loopy for Mysis! - had all four eating it out of my hand last night!!!)
I was told once that juvenile fish should eat more but all of my inhabitants have shown significant growth especially my Plec who has gained 2" in 3 months!

As for your nitrate problem are there any areas of the tank that don't have very good waterflow - I don't understand the chemistry of it but apparently Anaerobic ares can be created in substrate which can lead to huge spikes in all the nasties.
just my .02......
Chaz
 
Anaerobic areas will not contribute to nitrates spikes at all. They can permit the growth of bacteria that will consume nitrates and produce sulfur and other waste products that aren't good for a tank if released, but this seldom happens.

For feeding--I feed every other day or so. I provide a variety of foods, from fresh veggies to wafers to frozen foods. Fish really do not need the amount of food we think they do.
 
OrionGirl said:
Anaerobic areas will not contribute to nitrates spikes at all. They can permit the growth of bacteria that will consume nitrates and produce sulfur......QUOTE]
Thanks OG that was the nasty little chemical i was thinking of - thanks for clearing up
Click to expand...
 
I have good waterflow. I verify that anerobic areas does not cause nitrate problems (unless a fish hits the pocket and dies from lack of oxygen.. almost impossible unless you have 0 water flow and lots of waste) because thats the conditions you are creating in a denitrator. the anerobic bacteria reverse the nitrogen cycle back to nitrogen gas.

Also, to clarify it does not "create" sulfer as sulfer is an element. but sulferous componds (hydrogen sulfide big one, rotten eggs. the nasty smell you get if you take a bunch of dead organic material leave it in a bucket of water for a month without agitation.) im not entirely sure what substances introduce sulfer into the tank. if you dont introduce the sulfer then these compounds cannot be created. but thats another thread for another day.

As for live food. I have been trying to cultivate several things in my hospital tank to keep it cycled. I tried ghost shrim but they are dieing out without breeding. Snails appearedd recently so I have been moving the extras into the tank. of course thinking oabut this it not a good idea, most meds will kill inverts.

I was thinking about trying to get a colony of freshwater scuds started also, they breed freer that ghost shrimp but are smaller and nocturnal(not reaaaly an issue, just like to see things:) .

any other suggestions on live food i could grow that would also keep a tank cycled?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom